Automatic telephone-exchange selector.



E, B. AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SELECTOR.

CRAFT.

APLIGATION FILED FEB. 26, 1912.

Patented June 30,1914.

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. AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SELECTOR.

2 SHEETSWSHEET 2.

VV/'essesf urn sraesrafrsfr EEWAED B. CRAFT, OF HACKENSCK, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN' ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A GORPORATONOF LLINS.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE SELECTQR.

License.

Specication kof Letters Eatent.

Patented fune 3G, 1914.,

. Applicationaieerebmaryse,1era., sei-inademen,

[o all whom 'it may concern.'

citizen of the United States, residing at Hackensack, in the county ofBergen and State oi New Jersey, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Automatic 'llelephonedlxchange Selectors,V of which thefollowing is a' full, clear7rconcise, and exact description. i

This invention relates to automatic switches.

for effecting the interconnection `or' telephone lines, and is adaptedAfor use in either automatic or semi-automatic .telephone exF changesystems. f

rilie prime object of this invention is to provide a selector servingarelatively large number olllines wherein any lterminal may be reached ina relativelyshort time by one of a plurality of brushes. common to therow Without necessitating' the provision of a separate electricalbrushlchoosing switch.

ln accordance with this invention, the ter minals are divided intosectionsv and each section is provided with a brush, yand a commonmovable element is provided, adapted to select the particular brushhaving access to the section containing the desired terminal and causeit alone to engage the terminals of thatsection and select the desiredline. This may be accomplished in a variety of Ways. ln the arrangementherein shown, the row of terminals is divided into sections and the'brush carrier is common to the entire set of brushes servingthe row, aparticular brush being` rendered active by suitable mechanism to engagethe terminals of its section, the remaining brushes being inoperative toengage the terminals they are adapted to serve.

The invention is illustrated in connection with a selector of the paneltype and the brushes are shown as being loosely mounted irpon anelevating rod to which they maybe individually coupled by a separatetrip rod and elevated by a clutch. The trip rod may be actuated by anelectromagnet, which electromagnet may also serve to control theretaining pawl of the brush-elevating rod.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of that much ofa panel se lector necessary ,to an understanding of the invention; Fig'.2 is an enlargedsection on linefZ-Qy of Fig' l; Fig. 3 is an enlargedside elevation oit what is shown in Fig. 2,

l these two views showing the brush selectingl Be it known that I,EDWARD B..CnAur,

mechanism and a portion of the Panel; FiU.

f 4 is a perspective view of the brush selecting mechanism; Fig. 5 is anenlarged view parand to give a clearer idea of that part of thestructure claimed herein, portions only ci' two successive banks of lineterminals 66 are shown, it being understood that for each of the rows inthe three omitted sections of terminals in Fig. 6 a brush carrier 28with its brushes Q9, 30, 8l and 32 is provided. Each individual selectormechanism may comprise high and loW speed. elevating clutches 75, 76,acting upon the brush ele: vating rod through a plate .f2/l rigidlysecured thereto, shown in Fig. 6; the brushelevating rodV 25, extendinfYthe entire length of the panel; vc brush carriers 28, each with threebrushes 29, 30, 3l, 32, (30 and 3l being in eflect one) adapted tocontact with the fixed terminals 34, 4and 36 in their movement, as shownin Fig. 25 when 'elevated by the rod 25; current-supplying members 29,30", 32. for the respective brushes 29, 30, 32; a rod 4:7 for trippingthe brushes into engagement with the elevating rod S25: a combinedbrush-trip and brushrelease magnet 45, and an interruptor 57 -for therevertivecontrol mechanism.

The brush elevatinO rod Q5 is provided with a notch 49 for each brushcarrier 28. These notches are so arranged that counting upwardly in thcnormal position of'thc rod they are at successively decreasing` heightsfrom the Floors 67 of the sections. 0n the other hand the interlockinglingers 44 oi' the brush carriage 28 are each equally distant from thefloors of the sections when the carriers are at normal. Thus it ispossible to select any predetermined brush by raising the brush roduntil the interlocking I tially in section of the elevating mechanism;Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation of the .revertive impulsecontrolling mechanism; Fig. 7 is a section on line 7 7 of Fig. 6, 1 andFig. 8 is a front view of that part oit" `finger 44 is adjacent itsnotch 49 in the rod 25,'when the rod 47 is giveny a slight verticalmovement by the arm 39 due to the energizatlon of the magnet 45,whereupon the projection 23 on lsaid trip rod causes said linger to moveinto the adjacent notch, the notch being extended down 7ardlongitudinally of the -rod to permit the linger to move down into thenotch upon continued upward movement of the rod to effectively interlockthe same with the rod. By eX- amining the relation of the other notchesto their respective fingers at this moment of selection7 it will beevident that those below are not 1n alinement,'beings above theirrespective fingers, and those above are not in alinement, being belo.,rvtheir respective fingers. The upward movement of the rod may then `becontinued until the selected brush reaches the desired terminal, whereit is held during conversation -and thereafter released and restored bygravity, or may be driven back to its. normal position. 4VThe upwardmovement of the rod 25 may be caused by contact with the low-speedclutch 76 alone, which is rigidly secured to a constantly rotating shaft50 or a high-speed clutch 75 rigidly secured to a constantly rotatingshaft 53, or both intermittently. These shafts may rotate at the samerate of speed, but due to the dillercnces in diameter of the clutchs 75,76, the rate of speed at which they elevate the brushes is dillerent.The contact of the rod with these clutches may be controlled by anysuitable apparatus, that shown being clectromagnets 5l and 54 which whenenergized, cause the plate 24 of the brush rod Q5 to engage with theirrespective clutches and slowly or rapidly elevate the brush rod; Theinitial movement of said rod may be caused by the encrgization of thelow-speed clutch magnet 5l, and at the instant one ot the grooves on thebrush rod Q5 is adjacent the finger of the brush serving the desiredhundreds, current is momentarily applied to shiftmagnet 45, which actsthrough the shift arm 39 to give said brush `trip` rod a slight upwardmovement causing the corresponding finger 44 to engage with the groove49 .in the brush rod 25 which rod seizes and eleviates the brush to theend of thebrush selecting range, when the rack 55 el-il'ges with theretaining pawl 65. Current is then either maintained applied to themagnet 51 of the low-speedclutch 7G to continue the elevation of thebrush rod 25 at lowspeed to the desired terminal, or transferred speeduntil the desired terminal is reached by the brush, where it is held bythe pawl 65. When it is desired to restorethe mechanism, current isapplied to 'magnet 45 which will cause the pawl G5 to be withdrawn fromthe rack, whereupon the rod and brush are restored. Current may besupplied to these clutch controlling ma nets by means of an interrupter57 shown 1n aFigs. 6, 7 and 8, the contact arm 58 and metallic segments59 sending back impulses to a sender or other suitable mechanism bymeans of which the preliminary movement of the brush rod 25 during brushselection may be controlled, the contact brush 60 and metallic segmentsG1 sending back impulses by means of which the upward movement of theselected brush over the tens line terminals may be controlled, and thebrush 58 serving also with the metallic segments 62 to send backimpulses by means of which the travel oi the brush over the unitsterminals may be controlled. The brush 63 and the continuous metallicsegment 64 supplies return or ground to these circuits.

I claim:

l. In a selector, a longitudinally movable shaft, a plurality of brushesnormally loosely mounted thereon, a catch carried by each brush, and aplurality of means on said .shaft for cooperating with said catches,respectively, whereby any desired brush may lbe scoured to said shaft.

2. ln a selector, a shaft, a plurality of*l 'creasing distances from thenormal positions,

of said catches whereby a single brush mayv be secured to said shaft ata time.

3. In a selector, the combination with a rowof terminals divided intosections, a plurality of brushes, one for each section, a brush seizingdevice, means for coupling said device to the brushes individually, andfor moving the selected brush along its respective section of said row.

4. In a selector, the combination with a row of terminals divided intosections, a brush for each section, each of said brushes being capableof movement over its respective section independently of the others, adevice adapted to individually seize and elevate said brushes, means forgiving said brush-seizing device a primary movement to ,seize a. brush,and a secondary moven-ient to cause it to traverse the terminals of itssection.

ln a selector, the combination with a row of terminals divided intosections, a bruslnnormally resting at the bottom of each section, abrush-seixing rod normally in inlll hiciese a operative relation to saidbrushes, and means for causing said rod to individually seize andelevate any one of said brushes over its respective section of said row.

6. In selector, the combination with a row of terminals divided intosections, a brush for each section havingv a iinger by which it may bemoved, anactuating rod for said brushes having means for interlockingwith said' fingers individually, and means for causing the selectedbrush to traverse the terminals or" itsvsection.

7. In a selector, the combination with a row of terminals divided intosections, means for individually seizing said brushes, means forelevating the selected brush to the desired terminalv in its section,means for retaining the same thereat, and a magnet adapted to cause theactuation ont the brush seizing means and lto control saidbrushretaining meam.

v8. In an automatic switch, alongitudinally movable snpportga plurality.of sets of brushes normally loosely mounted thereon, and means wherebyany desired set of brushes may be temporarily fixed to said support tolmove therewith.

9. In an automatic switch, a movable support, a pluralityof sets ofmultiply connected. brushes normally loosely mounted thereon, and meanswhereby any desired brush set may be temporarily locked to said supportto move therewith..

l 10. In an automatic switch, `a bodilydis- Dlaceable support, aplurality of sets of rushes normally loosely mounted thereon, and meansfor causing any desired brush set to be temporarily fixed to saidsupport to move therewith.

11. In an automatic switch, a longitudinally movable rod, a plurality ofsets of brushes normally ioosely mounted thereon,

and means for selectively locking said brush sets to said rod to movetherewith.

12. In a Selector, brushes, a longitudinally movable-support therefor, aportion of said andelectromagnets for selectively causing operative.engagement of said plate with either of'saidpower members.

14. In` a selector, the combination with rows of stationary terminalsand brushes arranged to traverse said rows, of a longitudinally movablerod to which s'aid brushes may be locked, a plate carried by said rod, arotatable friction disk adjacent said plate, and an electromagnet fordrawing said plate into engagement with said friction disk.

l5. In a telephone switch, the combination ,with rows of terminals,brushes therefor, a

pair of pulleys, an elevating rod for said brushesin operative relationto said pulleys, means for causing engagement of said rod with eitherlof Isaid pulleys, and means for rotating said pulleys whereby saidrod'mayY be moved longitudinally at different rates ofl Speed. ,l

In witness whereof, I, hereunto subscribe my name this 24th day ofFebruary A. D.,

EDWARD B. CRAFT.

Witnesses: IRVING MACDONALD, WALTER F. HOFFMAN.4

